Nick and Nelle: Noel
by VVizrrd
Summary: This is a one-shot Christmas special branching off from my main story, 'The Case of Robert Jacks'. If you're currently following the main story, I hope you'll enjoy a nice little side-trip about the foxes enjoying Nelle's favorite holiday. If you haven't read the main story, I'd recommend looking into it before opening this one. But of course, the main purpose is to be enjoyed. -VV


**A/N; As promised, here's that little Christmas special. It's nothing integral to the story- in fact, it takes place a few months** _ **after**_ **the story- and shouldn't contain any big spoilers for what I have planned. Just a nice, sweet little bit of fluff, so you know how the foxes' first Christmas together goes. ;)  
(Also, don't worry about them progressing 'too fast'. This is eight months after they met.)**

* * *

Early in the morning, the most wonderful sleep Nick had enjoyed in months was interrupted by something tickling his ear. He twitched and tried to swipe it away, only to be greeted by a charming giggle and more soft tickling. With a grunt, he rolled over, which only resulted in the other ear getting tickled. He tried to ignore it, but the vicious assault was unrelenting, and when he'd had enough he reached up and grabbed at the culprit. He caught a paw in his; the paw squeezed, and he squeezed back. Finally getting the picture, he rolled onto his back an opened his eyes. He was greeted with the sight of sparkling blue eyes and a beautiful smile, bathed in the early morning light.

"Hey, I get it's a big day," he murmured, his voice still thick with sleep. "But since when do you wake up so early?"

"Wake up? I barely slept!" Nelle countered, her smile becoming a toothy grin, and she leaned over him, her soft body covering his as she moved in for a long, sweet kiss. When she pulled back, she looked gave him a poke in the side before she said, "I can't believe _you_ were able to sleep like a rock all night."

Nick grinned, and shook his head. "Hey, I get that it's Christmas, and that's great an all, but I've already had a few of them before, you know?"

"But this is our first one _together_! I actually get to spend the best day of the year with the best fox in the _world_! I've been waiting like… Eight months for this day."

Without missing a beat, Nick remarked, "I am pretty great, huh?"

Nelle rolled her eyes and slapped him on the chest before sliding off the bed. She was still wearing her snowflake pajamas, he noticed. That made him grin.

Nick watched her move into the bathroom, and a few moments later heard the sound of running water. He considered going in with her for a moment, then shrugged the idea off and went out to the kitchen. His kitchen. No… _Their_ kitchen.

He was still getting used to thinking of this apartment like that, but it was definitely nice to think about. It had only been a week since he'd moved in. Some mornings he woke up wondering what had happened to his apartment, why his bed was bigger, why the walls had changed… He was easily adjusting, though.

When Nelle had asked if he wanted to move in, he'd honestly been a little hesitant at first. He made very few big, life-changing commitments. Joining the ZPD had been one, and that had led to all kinds of trouble during the Jacks case. Meeting Nelle was the only _real_ reason he was glad they'd been put on that one. So, when the idea of living with someone else for the first time in over a decade came up, he'd wanted to take a little while to think about it, considering all the possible pros and cons. When he actually got down to it, though, he'd realized the pros _drastically_ outweighed the cons, and so he'd agreed to move in with Nelle. She was his _mate_ , after all.

He went through the cupboards, seeking out the coffee grounds and a filter, and in a few moments had the coffee maker going. While it brewed, he went out to the living room, plopped down on the couch, and turned on the TV. One thing he'd found out really quick was Nelle loved old Christmas specials. Especially the cheesy ones.

It wasn't the same TV he'd spent that first night with her in, it wasn't the same couch they'd passed out on, it wasn't even the same apartment. Following their case, Nelle had rented out a new one on the edge of Savannah Central, just a block from the Tundratown tunnel. It was a little smaller, but she'd said the old one had always felt a little too empty anyway. When Judy had seen this one, she'd said even _this_ seemed way too spacious. Of course, Judy had 275 siblings.

Just then, his phone buzzed on the coffee table. The screen lit up with a picture of the gray bunny smiling through a mouthful of carrot cake. _Speak of the devil._ She still didn't know he'd kept that picture. He swiped the lock pattern, and opened the message. It was a picture, and when he opened it, he wasn't sure it contained anything that wasn't a bunny in a bad sweater. How did they even fit that many in one shot? Judy was in the front row, with her parents and what he had to assume was the eldest dozen of her siblings. She had added a little 'Merry Christmas' caption in sparkly letters at the bottom.

"Salutations from Bunnyburrow?" a soft voice asked at his shoulder. He turned his head, and smiled up at Nelle, who was leaning forward against the back of the sofa. She'd got out of the shower and just had a towel wrapped around her. How easy it would be to… _If this vixen knew what she does to me…_ Of course, this vixen _did_ know what she did to him. And he knew she did it on purpose.

Looking back at his phone, he lifted it so Nelle could see clearly. "How do they even have room to breathe?" she asked with a giggle.

"Not sure they do. One breath, and they'd be all over the room. Makes you wonder about bunny lung capacity…" He put his phone down and looked up at her again. "That's a nice little bit of wrapping you've got on, by the way. Are you my first present?"

Nelle smiled coyly. Nick already knew the answer to _that_ one.

* * *

After unwrapping his first present and having some good fun with her, Nick got up and went back into the kitchen, poured himself some coffee and got together all the fixings for French toast. Nelle was napping contently on the couch, covered in a blanket he'd grabbed for her. His thoughts drifted back to the first night he'd _really_ spent with her, the first one that handed ended with them both going to sleep fully clothed. It had been just after her discharge from the hospital, three months back. The night he'd asked her to be his mate. The doctor had recommended that she get plenty of bed rest… Well, there hadn't been much rest that night, but at least they'd got the _bed_ part right.

Nick shivered as the pads of his feet slid along the cold tiles. _Maybe I got some slippers waiting for me…_ Peeking around the corner, he eyed the eight boxes they had under their little tree, then went back to the stove to flip a piece of toast. In the living room, the TV sent out the sounds of… Well, he wasn't sure what this one was. Nelle would know- she knew all the Christmas movies. And she got excited for every single one. He loved to see her excited.

Nick was just setting two plates on the table when he heard a small groan from the couch. "Smells good…" Nelle murmured quietly. She looked to the table, then down at herself, blushed cutely and wrapped the blanket around herself and went into the bedroom to get dressed. Nick grinned as he watched her go. _Burst of aggressive affection with modest shyness in between…_ The whole time he'd known her, that hadn't changed. It was one of her most adorable habits.

He poured a cup of coffee for Nelle, refilled his own, and set them down on the table just as the bedroom door opened. Nelle came out, wearing light blue sweat pants and a thick pink sweater, covered in little white snowflakes with three big Christmas trees right over her chest. "Thanks for that, Nick," she said as she moved over and sat down at the table. "I needed that."

"The nap, or…?"

"Both," she answered the unfinished question with a sly smirk. She grabbed the syrup and poured some over her toast. More than Nick had on his by far. Her defense was she liked sweet things. Nick had never thought of himself as being particularly sweet, but she always insisted he was, at least to her.

Breakfast passed fairly quietly, both of them too hungry to hold a conversation over quickly putting away the bits of toast. Once Nick's plate was empty, though, he took a long sip of his coffee, then asked, "So how's that… 'Sneaking lynx' case going?"

Nelle finished chewing the bite she had in her mouth, then swallowed it and washed it down with a quick sip of coffee. "Exactly the way I expected it to. Mrs. Cabot _insists_ her husband is up to no good. If I were to recount all the things she's suggested he _might_ be doing, we wouldn't have time to open presents. But so far as I can tell, the truth of it is that Keith Cabot is the least interesting bobcat I've ever laid eyes on. He does _nothing_ other than wake up, go to work at 7, leave work at 4, and go straight home. He answers a pager and makes calls. He says almost nothing. And he works at a _book store_ , but he doesn't even pick one up other than to alphabetize them. And I'm gonna have to spy on him _again_ tomorrow… Curse my satisfaction guarantee."

Nick chuckled, and shook his head. He did feel sorry for her. She'd gone into the private investigator business with the intent to never give up a case until the client was satisfied with the results. She even had contracts printed up that her client had to sign off on to agree the job was done, or she had to give them a refund. Still, after four years, she hadn't had to give any money back. Granted, not every case ended the way the client hoped, but they all had some kind of resolution. And that meant she had to work with the paranoid nuts like Debby Cabot.

It also meant she'd hardly been home long enough to do anything but sleep for the past four days.

Nick stood up to stretch, then picked up his plate, and reached across the table to grab Nelle's. "Go ahead and get over to the tree, I'll rinse these off." He leaned over and gave her a quick kiss on the cheek, then carried the plates over to the sink and set them in, ran some water over them, and put them in the dishwasher. Then he went over to meet Nelle by the tree. She was sitting cross-legged on the floor, an excited grin on her face.

"I know, I know, you wanna go first. Let's see… Here. Go ahead, give it your best." He picked up a small little bundle and handed it to her. This one was from him.

"I'm surprised it's not snowflake wrapping," she remarked, looking at the paper decorated with a pattern of winter flowers. She shook it, but of course heard nothing. She could already tell it was something squishy under the paper. "Is it… Socks?" she asked.

Nick laughed, and shook his head. "Try again."

"Hmm…" She shifted it from hand to hand, turned it over, squeezed it. "A t-shirt."

"Strike two."

"Oh, come on, it's gotta be… Uh…" A thought seemed to occur to her, and she blushed a little. "Nick, are you naughty enough to have bought me _underwear_ for Christmas?"

That made Nick really laugh loud, and he leaned over and kissed her head. "You know, I almost did, but in the end I found something else, something just right." He leaned over and kissed her forehead. "And that's three guesses. Too bad, I get to open the first present."

Nelle set the little parcel down and pouted, crossing her arms. "Fine…"

"You know you love me."

Shyly, she looked up at him and smiled softly. "Yeah."

"Now then…" he knelt down in front of the tree and looked over the boxes. Half of them were for both of them. He'd gotten her one, and she'd gotten one for him, and Judy had got an individual present for both of them. He picked up the one to him from Nelle. "Let's see what you picked out." He grinned, and held the small rectangular package in one paw, and extended one claw on his other to cut through the tape on one end. He pulled the paper apart, and pulled out a small gray box. He looked up at Nelle curiously, then pulled off the lid of the box. Inside was a small, leather-bound journal. _This is really nice… Looks handmade._ He opened it up and saw each page was marked with a Date line and three lines for Time, and six lines for each Time. It was a very fancy day planner. He looked to Nelle again. She was grinning.

"So you can maintain your standard of showing up less than five minutes early for everything." She gave him a wink, then quickly picked her own present back up and quickly tore the wrapping paper off. _So impatient._ What was left in her paws was a light gray beanie with a silver snowflake design on the front, and slits for ears. For a few moments, Nelle just held it, and looked at it. Then she looked up and said, "Nick, this is _adorable!_ " And with a bright smile, she put it on her head. "How do I look?"

"Adorable," he replied with a wink of his own. Then he looked back to the array of gifts before them. Both the ones from Judy were awkwardly shaped and hastily wrapped. He grabbed the one for him, and pulled the paper apart. As soon as he had the gift out, he grinned. _Judy, you're a lifesaver._ Nelle, being an arctic fox, very much preferred it somewhat cold at home. And for the most part, Nick was fine with it. His fur was thick enough it didn't bother him. Except that the pads of his feet didn't have fur, and half their apartment floor was tile. He'd told Judy about this the day after he moved in. And she'd got him slippers.

Nelle had watched with eager patience as he opened his gift from Judy, and as soon as he'd seen it, she quickly reached for hers. It didn't take her long to get the wrapping paper off… And it immediately became apparent that Judy had done what Nick had decided not to, because the package contained a bundled-up plastic bag from a lingerie shop. As soon as she saw that, Nelle's ears turned pink at the tips, and with wide eyes she reached into the bag. Nick wasn't sure the bits of black lace Nelle pulled out would actually _hide_ anything. There was even a note. "Dear Nelle…" she read, her voice faint. "Nick means the world to me, and you're the best thing that'll ever happen to him… Take _very_ good care of him. Judy." She looked up at Nick, unable to say anything more.

After a few moments of embarrassed silence, Nick cleared his throat, and said, "Make sure to give Carrots a big hug for that one."

Nelle blinked. She looked down at the underwear in her hand, then back up at him. Then she started to giggle, softly at first, then deeper, until it ascended to full-blown laughter. She even had a few tears in her eyes by the time she settled down. "Yeah, I'll be sure to squeeze her _really_ tight." She put the lace back in the bag and set it down at her side, mumbling something about 'dying from embarrassment'. "What's next?"

"Well, let's go with… This one," he decided, picking up the first of the shared presents. A small box from his parents. Nelle's cheerful grin returned, and she grabbed one corner so they could open it together. There wasn't much in it, just a single red tie and a pair of white silk gloves. And a slip of paper. Nick picked it up and read out loud; "For the real present, you'll have to come to the shop. I'll make a new suit for Nick and a dress gown for Nelle. Merry Christmas."

"That's sweet," Nelle said, giving him a bright smile and reaching for the next one. "Ooh… This one's from Mr. Big! I wonder if it's something we could get arrested for accepting?" She grinned, and without waiting for him to finish checking out his tie, pulled the paper off the flat rectangle. The first thing that caught Nick's eye was an ornate silver picture frame, with a leg so it could stand on a shelf. Upon closer inspection, though, he found it was something much more remarkable- a picture of him and Nelle, dancing at Koslov's Palace on their first date.

"How did… Where did they have a camera that could get this close a picture straight-on? I'm sure there wasn't anyone taking pictures that night."

"I… Don't know…" Nelle answered quietly, clearly very absorbed in the picture. Then she snapped out of it, and looked up at him, exclaiming, "But I love it! We _have_ to go again some time!"

"Oh, of course, let me just give my mafia connections a call," he teased, and grabbed the next present. "Hey, it's from Robert. Any idea what he'd give us?"

Nelle shrugged, and together they opened the package. Right on top was a newspaper, and both foxes recognized it right away. This was the story that had come out on the front page the day after Robert's return to Zootopia Times. This was also the story that had caused his disappearance in the first place. A sticky-note Robert had attached indicated it had also been the very first copy off the presses. And underneath… Were five boxes of cookies. Nick couldn't help but chuckle at that. He'd found out a couple months back that Nelle's sweet tooth paled in comparison to Robert's.

"Well, alright then, news and sweets, literally no surprise in that one. Last one, here…" He grabbed it and looked at the tag, then looked up to meet Nelle's eyes. "It's from your dad. How, uh… How's that coming along?"

Nelle's smile softened a bit, and she said, "Still nowhere near perfect, but a lot better than it's been in years. Here, let me…"

Without pause, Nick handed the package over to her. She took it, and held it a moment. Her claw drew along the ribbon tied around it, but didn't pull. For a few moments, she just looked at it. Nick said nothing, just waited. After a little while her eyes sought his, looking for encouragement. He smiled softly, and gave a nod. She smiled back and slowly pulled the ribbon, until it came apart, and lifted the top from the box. Nelle froze. Curious, Nick leaned forward a little, trying to see what was inside. He didn't have to, though, because after a moment Nelle pulled out an old photo album. Without saying a word, she started flipping through the pages. Nick went around and leaned over Nelle's shoulder. When she felt him at her back, she leaned back against him, and kept turning pages. The album contained dozens upon dozens of pictures, pages of photos of three arctic foxes. Some had Nelle, some had her father, most had both. But every single picture included her mom. He'd only seen a few pictures of her before, but the family resemblance was unmistakable.

Before long, Nelle got to the last page. This one was different. It only had two pictures. One showed Edward Vox with a younger, smiling cape fox, one arm over her shoulders and the other over her belly. The other was strange at first, a vague, black-and-white partial cone… Wait, no… Was that…?"

"Oh?" Nelle spoke up at last, a hint of confusion in her voice. "Oh… Oh! Oh, Nick!" Suddenly excited, she set the album down and stood up, turned around and wrapped her arms around Nick's neck to pull him into a tight hug. "Nick, I finally get to be a big sister!"

* * *

 **Post A/N; And that's it, our sweet little Christmas special. Hope you enjoyed it, I enjoyed staying up 'til 3am to write it for you! =P  
Now, a couple small point. Yes, there were some small bits that reveal a bit of the story ahead of time. I'll clear some things up real quick just to keep things simple.  
One- Yes, Robert Jacks is alive and, by the time Christmas rolls along in Zootopia, quite well.  
Two- The reason Nelle was in the hospital is actually a VERY big part of the story, so no more spoilers on that. I will say that no one was seriously injured, and it was an eye-opener for Nick.  
Three- Nelle has, at this point in the story, started to repair her relationship with her father, and no longer feels he betrayed her mother.  
Four- Nelle takes a vulpine contraceptive pill. They're not looking to have kits quite yet. ;)**


End file.
